Star Traders: Frontiers News

We're celebrating the launch of GREAT HOUSES major milestone and the new default map for v2 with a 35% off sale. This major milestone is packed with new -- new default map, a new boarding specialist Job Saboteur, new Contact types and Traits, new mission plotting features and new trade route opportunities in rebalanced economies.

Already our 4th big update of the year, we're welcoming 2021 with new features, new content and more. If you're enjoying the constant stream of free updates, please share the game with a friend and be sure to leave a review.

If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


[h2]New Default Map and Faction[/h2]
In November, we opened up map seed v2 with the CARTOGRAPHER update, inviting every captain to enjoy new, improved and even larger galactic maps. With GREAT HOUSES, we're finishing that arc by upgrading the game's default map to a map seed v2 map. We owe a huge thank you to the entire community who joined us is in the hunt for map seed v2's default. Many captains spent many hours looking for the perfect fit. In the end, the honor goes to @wilky with assist from @Shad1902 who helped convince us of the merits of the amazing 42 quadrant that was finally selected: "st-v02-42-2-53091310"

Of course, you can continue to play the original default map as long as you like but for new players this new and exciting map v2 default will greet them on their first playthrough.

Cadar has long had the honor of being the default faction due to a poll held during the Kickstarter, but it time has come to pass the crown to a GREAT HOUSE and so Thulun has now taken the position as default faction.


[h2]New Boarding Specialist: Saboteur[/h2]
The Saboteur job rolls out totally new abilities as well as taking new angles on existing specialties. The Saboteur is a boarding specialist, with a total of 5 amazing boarding victory Talents capable of smashing ship, crew and morale. They also can unleash totally unique boarding combat abilities -- the ability to damage a Void Engine and to increase the number of boarding Talents that can be used in any boarding run from 2 to 3.



In addition, Saboteurs have the option to fly boarding shuttles to get themselves and their boarding party onto the enemy ship from long ranges. Either way, when they clash in combat they can deploy a bevy of debuffing pistol attacks from the midranks. They also join Spy as another Stealth and Pistol combination, giving new options for Job combinations.

For any boarding focused ship combat and for carrier builds, the Saboteur opens up new and exciting possibilities to improve your builds!

Saboteurs can be hired from Contacts or during Spice Festival Rumors in the spice hall and those that hail from the Rychart Syndicate get an Attribute boost.

[h2]New Contacts and Traits[/h2]
With GREAT HOUSES, we've added 2 new Contact types -- the Ex-Mining Chief and the Racketeer. Both offer Black Market services and can recruit Saboteurs as well as other exciting services to fill in underworld economic side of Contacts.

We've also added 2 new Contact Traits -- "Conspirator" which reduces mission pay, increases Intel prices, may offer Black Market and recruits Saboteurs. And finally, "Hawkish" increases mission pay, increases hostile missions and recruits Commanders.


[h2]Offered and Accepted Missions[/h2]
With GREAT HOUSES, we've improved the offered and accepted mission displays across the game and fixed a few bugs introduced by Update #249. From the Contact screen where you are offered missions, you can now directly open the Galactic Map to look at your missions and help plot out there routes.

The icons used on the quadrant map are now more clear -- showing the standard mission icon for those quadrants that have an accepted mission, a grayed out icon with a blue plus for those quadrants that only have an offered mission and a standard mission icon and the blue plus for those quadrants where there are both active missions and offered missions waiting.



We keep improving here, but for now the fastest way to check your routes is to open the mission list and pin it back so you can see where each mission is quickly.

[h2]Rebalanced Economies and Components[/h2]
Some economics got a refresh this update,

We've improved fuel bonuses for Fuel Tank and Large Fuel Tank components as well as removing Jump Cost from multiple medical components and fixed the low sale price on high-end Barracks.

Finally, we added 2 new keybindings for quick landing on zones from orbit. Enjoy!

[h2]v3.1.25 - 1/25/2021[/h2]
- New default map from map v2 "st-v02-42-2-53091310" -- huge thanks to @wilky, @shad1902 and everyone who contributed to the exhaustive search!
- New default faction rises from the GREAT HOUSES: Thulun
- New Job "Saboteur" excels at debuffing pistol fighting and boarding Talents, option to fly boarding shuttle
- Saboteurs recruited from Rychart spice hall or Contacts will have best Attributes
- 15 new Talents for Saboteur including multiple unique Talent types, all new boarding abilities
- New Contact Types: "Ex-Mining Chief" and "Racketeer" recruit Saboteur and offer Black Market
- New Contact Trait "Conspirator": less mission pay, higher Intel price, may offer Black Market, recruits Saboteurs
- New Contact Trait "Hawkish": bonus mission pay, more hostile missions, recruits Commanders
- Added 30 new Barks with Lore about Factions, Jobs and Planets
- Saboteurs can be recruited during Spice Festival Rumors
- Commanders can be recruited during Starport Boom and UCF Recruitment Drive Rumors
- Rebalanced and increased Rare Trade Good Demands for Luxury Population, Orbital and Refinery Zones
- Improved Soldier's "Ferocious Crossfire" Talent to add additional damage up to Rifle Skill
- Reworked trade economy for Hydrogen and Methane Fuel
- Reworked trade economy for Refined Spice and Spice
- Buffed Fuel Storage of 'Fuel Tank' and 'Large Fuel Tank' components
- Removed Jump Cost penalty from several Medical Bay components
- Fixed ridiculously low sale and repair prices on some Barracks modules
- Fixed a bug preventing Traits increasing price of Intel and Scientific Intel sales from applying bonus
- Fixed Linux crash on opening mission list, occasional incorrect display of pending mission as accepted
- Jump to galactic map directly from Contact mission offer to better plot routes
- Improved display of offered and active missions on the galactic map
- Improved filtering of Mission list for "Narrative" to include story missions and story objectives
- Added new keybinding for Landing on Zones from Orbit for better keyboard play

Update #249 clears some of the haze from the hyperwarp navigator's maps and gives easy visibility into the destinations of missions that contacts are offering, not only those that have already been accepted. For mission-runner focused captains, this is a big step forward in being able to effectively plot your galactic travels.

If you're enjoying the pace of new free content and improvements in updates (249 and counting!), please take a minute to post a review and share the game with a friend.

[h2]@StarTradersGame is out of drydock on twitter![/h2]
You may already be following us on Facebook and on the @TreseBrothers twitter, but we're now sharing news, sales, gameplay vids, guides & tips from the forums & discord, streams, memes, and more on Star Traders' own twitter account: https://twitter.com/StarTradersGame

[h2]Cyber Knights Heist RPG[/h2]
We're also excited to say, its 2021 now and this will be the year our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


[h2]Filter and View Offered Missions[/h2]
The mission list now features three new filter capabilities -- story objectives, accepted missions and offered missions. First, this allows you to quickly isolate story objectives. But, second and most importantly this allows you to have visibility into missions that Contacts have offered you but that you have not yet accepted. The mission list is available to look at from the galactic map, the map of a single quadrant and a bevy of other screens as well. The most immediate use for the new feature is to pop open your galactic map, swap over to looking at pending missions and then click through them to see where they will take you. This visibility makes route plotting for a mission focused character a lot more possible without needing to remember quadrant names or mission arcs.

While you can't jump directly from the Contact mission offer screen yet, this is the first huge step. Let's go!

[h2]The hunt for the new v2 default map is coming to a close...[/h2]
Speaking of the galactic map, we're getting ready to select a new default map based that takes advantage of the new map generation features we added back in November. If you have any last thoughts on what you'd like to see in the default, or map seeds you've found that feel awesome and well-balanced, post them in the forum thread ASAP.


[h2]Starport Repair Crash[/h2]
A quick note that we fixed the crash in starport repair if you popped out the details window. Thanks to everyone for reporting it.

[h2]Sample Analysis[/h2]
We've also fixed some issues with Sample Analysis, which is a rare Talent that relies on two Skills -- Doctor to trigger and Explorer to determine how many Scientific Intel are created. We've clarified its description a bit as well to ensure its clear how zone Danger can impact the results, especially for lower level characters.

[h2]v3.1.23 - 1/19/2021[/h2]
- Added new filter to mission list to show missions offered by Contacts but not yet accepted
- Added new filter to mission list to look at only narrative objectives
- Highlight quadrant destinations of offered missions in the galactic map for better route plotting
- Improved Scientist "Sample Analysis" Talent to create the correct number of Scientific Intel, clarified description
- Fixed crash in starport repair if you repaired individual items
- Fixed reported crashes and typos

Update #248 comes roaring into the new year with a blast of new character art -- crushing two content expansion milestones in the process -- and a new dry dock feature. As always, if you like the pace of updates and new content, please take a moment to tell a friend or post a review.

With the new faces added in Update #248 and the 900+ outfit combinations in #246, we've closed two of the content expansion milestones off the dev roadmap. This doesn't leave much left to do here. Our focus is narrowing down on smashing these last few items and the onwards, to the stars (and whatever is next!)


We're also excited to say, its 2021 now and this will be the year our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


[h2]Added 6 New Faces[/h2]
To follow up on Update #246 and those that can before it, we've added another 6 new character faces to your crew roster. Featuring long hair, cool earrings, older characters, beards, scars and more. Enjoy the new looks.




[h2]Queue Dry Dock Repairs[/h2]
With Update #248, you may now queue repairs for dry docked ships. Just like with queuing ship upgrades, this allows you to order the repairs and then leave without waiting for them to complete. This can save a captain huge amounts of time lost if you don't need the ship right now. Of course, while the repairs are going the ship can't be launched.

Pop open the repair detail, select your drydocked ship, and then when prompted you can pick Immediately or Queue.

Happy repairing!

[h2]And Few Small Extras[/h2]
We also fixed the description of Wing Leader's "Precise Pursuit" buff which increases chance to hit the enemy capital ship (not enemy craft). We fixed a bug that could occur when Contacts who are targeted by a mission died.

And finally, more on dry dock -- we fixed an issue that prevent removing passenger cabins or prison cells on dry docked ships because you had a prisoner or passenger on your current ship.

[h2]v3.1.21 - 1/11/2021[/h2]
- Added 6 new character faces including new mustache and beard
- Enabled queuing of repairs on dry docked ships -- large repair jobs no longer interrupt
- Fixed bug preventing removal of prison cells or passenger cabins on dry docked ships
- Fixed incorrect buff description of Wing Leader "Precise Pursuit" (+50% Hit Chance, not +50% to Hit Craft)
- Fixed issue with missions given related to Contacts if the Contact died
- Fixed reported crashes and typos

[h2]End-of-Month Wrap-up: The Winner, Honorable Mentions, and Next Month’s Challenge...[/h2]
(Original challenge description below, skip to it?)
[h3]And our winners are... Tomcat, bogboy3, davea![/h3]


After a final January 31st push to send his score soaring into the ionosphere, Tomcat racked up an incredible 20,198.75 points with the help of his friends Calagan Faen (Javat Prince), Ignatio de Cadar (Cadar High Prince), and Heitta Lumotte (Moklumnue High Pricess). A truly impressive accomplishment on Impossible difficulty; well done Tomcat.

In second place, bogboy3 snuck in with his own January 31st bomb drop, out-doing his previous submitted run (Captain Vkari, 999 points) by a mere 10,007 points. Using his second-oldest captain, Captain El Putzo Fantissimo (a veteran from when the Frontiers were still in Early Access), bogboy3 earned more than 3,000 additional personal reputation with his contacts waited through years of pesky peacetime for opportunities to increase the influence of Silvaine von Sha (Thulun Spymaster).

And in third with 2,086 points, davea’s submission from all the way back at the beginning of the month kept him on the leaderboard throughout. Michael Guun (Zenrin Prince) was pleased to see Captain LeBraun had a fellow Zenrin, Xanth Vandee, among his officers… none the wiser that she’d been promoted from a mere electronics technician shortly before.



[h3]Honorable Mentions[/h3]
A shout-out to Dr. Spendlove, whose Captain Hame coulda been a contenda if we’d allowed story-unique contacts like the Coalition Arbiter and Fleet Commander to count. Sorry Doc!

And a bonus mention to Tomcat, for also submitting a “send all the bounty hunter stories to me” run from Cadar Princess Aetaan Char having a personal rep of negative 2052. Earning him a final score of… negative 6335.31 points. 👏❓



Thanks again everyone for the discussion and submissions both. Everyone is still welcome to post a run report for this challenge or any of our previous challenges in the Steam forums or in our Discord. We’ll love sharing notable playthroughs (impressive gameplay, fun screenshots / edits, fan art or stories) on our Twitter or Facebook.

We’ll get February’s challenge up soon, stay tuned!


[h2]Friend in High Places Challenge[/h2]
Across the stars, a Captain must travel through territory controlled by many different factions. Even the most zealous loyalist to a single faction knows how helpful it is to have contacts among at least a few of the other syndicates and great houses. The more powerful, the better. And even those Captains who operate in the shadows, under-the-table, or on the fringe know how useful it is to have a Prince in your pocket who can bail you out if things get too hot.

So in this challenge, we want to see how well you can cultivate your friendships in high places. At any point in your playthrough, if you have ...

• three “high places” (defined below) contacts
  
• from at least three different factions
  
• with at least 80 influence
  

... you can add up your personal reputation with those three contacts and submit your score. You may update your score at any point from within the same game, or submit multiple scores from new runs with new Captains.

[h3]“High places” contacts include:[/h3]

• The Throne Room: High Prince, Prince, Duke, Court Scientist, Court Seer
  
• Faction Ministers: Diplomatic Consul, Faction Judge, Legal Consul, Politician
  
• Top Brass: Commander, FDF Commander, Naval Commander, Starport Commander
  
• Big Money: Mining Samrak, Ranking Executive, Smuggler Prince, Trade Czar, Magnate
  
• Big Brains: Retired Theoretician, Spymaster
  

[h2]Scoring Rules[/h2]
[h3]Points will be awarded for:[/h3]

• Sum of your Personal Reputation from your top 3 qualifying Contacts. Each contact must be from a different faction, and each must have 80+ Influence.
  

[h3]Bonus points for:[/h3]

• +0.10x points if all three of your contacts having 90+ influence.
  
• +0.25x points if you have at least one officer from each of the factions of your 3 Contacts.
  
• +0.25x points for every difficulty level above Basic.
  

Note the bonuses are multiplicative. Therefore, you would get the calculation:
(Sum of Contact Personal Rep) x 1.1 (for all 3 Contacts have 90+ Influence) x 1.25 (for faction-matched officers) x 1.25 (for Normal diff)

[h3]Screenshots required:[/h3]

• Each of your 3 contacts, showing your personal rep with them and their influence. (Tip: from the Known Contacts menu, sort by Rep or Influence to find them easily, and/or use faction filters.)
  
• Your crew (if going for multi-faction officers bonus points).
  

[h2]Further Discussion, Post Scores and Ask Questions[/h2]
All scores, questions and chatter about the January community challenge should be routed to the Discussions forum thread.

Happy New Year captains! We're excited to share another big year of updates in the void with you. To get 2021 started right, we're sending out Update #247 with two new major Contact service offerings for Rumors, improved rules for paying to uncover Rumors and a very nice improvement to the Star Atlas straight from the community boards.

We're also excited to say, its 2021 now and this will be the year our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210


[h2]Economic and Recruitment Rumors[/h2]
Joining Salvage Rumors mongers, many Contacts across the galaxy are now plugged into networks of Rumors through their Spice Halls and Exchanges. Some Contacts can now sell access to economic Rumors like Salvage, Surplus and Embargoes while other Contacts can sell access to recruitment-focused Rumors like Spice Festivals, Mercenaries and Academy Graduation.

While the Contacts can only reveal existing Rumors, these offerings can give your captain's focused ability to turn up Rumors that they might go hunting for profit or talent. As with Salvage Rumors before them, the value of these new services are dependent on your captain's ability to take advantage of the conditions but with the right playstyle, these are proving to be very useful.


[h2]Uncovering and Extending Rumors[/h2]
With Update #247, we've improved the rule set around paying to learn Rumors. It is key to know that you are always paying to learn a pre-existing Rumor. These Contact services do not create Rumors and it is not that hard to find a case where your Contact has no Rumors to sell or you've purchased them all.

However, sometimes the ones you pay to discover are far away or are just about to end. With Update #247, we've adjusted the rules to ensure a duration boost is given to every Rumor you pay to uncover, guaranteeing you'll always have *some* time to check it of if you want to.


[h2]Star Atlas Improvements[/h2]
Straight from the community boards, we've patched the Star Atlas to include the quadrant name in the left hand list of planets whenever you are using the multi-quadrant filter. Without this data, it could be a bit hard to piece together where all of the zones might be situated as multiple quadrants could be 2 jumps away. It's a very nice improvement, so many thanks as always to our community.

Finally, we fixed a bug with the Spirit of Cadonya storyline that could leave it half-failed in case of losing a specific combat. And we've also resolved the issue with the Entropic Estimate Talent reporting incorrect dates.

[h2]v3.1.17 - 1/3/2020[/h2]
- Many contacts can now sell access to Economic Rumors -- shortages, surplus, embargo, tariffs
- Many contacts can now sell access to Recruitment Rumors -- mercs, academy graduation, UCF recruitment drives, starport booms
- Paying a Contact to reveal a Rumor (Salvage, Economic, Recruitment) breathes new duration into the rumor -- will no longer ever be "expiring soon"
- Star Atlas now shows quadrant name when jump filter is engaged
- Fixed issue in Jon Kaytyn storyline where a failed combat could leave the mission half-failed
- Fixed incorrect date in Entropic Estimate Talent